The Compound review: Love Island turns extremely dark in powerful Aisling Rawle debut novel

Rawle creates a world that is at once familiar to fans of reality TV, as a bunch of strangers come together to take part in a dating competition.

As ever, though, there's a twist - the contestants have to perform challenges as individuals and as a group to win things they need (and things they just purely want) - and if they want to last long in The Compound, they need to keep a member of the opposite sex in their bed every night.

Sounds simple enough, but it becomes very clear this TV show is not one that would be made today, as the contestants find themselves starved to the brink of sickness unless they take part in the tasks, dehydrated to the point of near-death, and placed in uncomfortable situations. All for some water, a door, or a diamond necklace.

Our lead character is one of those contestants - Lily. She's a fan of the show, knows how it works, and is desperate to stay until the end to achieve fame, fortune and the chance to escape her life working on a makeup counter in a department store she can never afford anything in.

Lily is a confusing character throughout. At times selfish and self-obsessed, she is so desperate to know what the public thinks of her and win the show that she ignores the chance for a real relationship with a nice man, Sam.

It's difficult to warm to any of the characters, in fact. Like most who step foot on a reality show, they often have a hidden motive for getting involved; they have to have a big personality to get on TV in the first place.

Reading The Compound removed most of the charm you get from actually sitting down to watch the line-ups interact with each other, be cheeky, be fun and be human. What the reader gets instead is just the stark truth of how bizarre it is to take part in a TV show with cameras on you 24/7. There's no hiding true personalities for too long in such a setting.

It's an interesting choice from Rawle to never delve too much into the production, focusing only on the snapshot of this particular season's contestants via the lens of Lily.

You get a strong feeling for the production by the way they act - not intervening until near death, allowing male-on-female violence to air (albeit with a gruesome punishment), and having the added bonus of sending banished contestants out into the desert where they may or may not survive the journey home (who knows?).

This alone would've been a clever look at the state of reality television today, an apocalyptic vision of where the desperation for fame and brand deals becomes violently pressing, but Rawle's debut is more than that, offering a searing take on capitalism and the growing influencer trend.

Lily keeps reminding us that they have a better chance at brand deals if they get to the final five, which appears to be the only reason she wants to get there - with her newfound partner or not. And if she was to win? Enormous fame and fortune awaits her.

The overwhelming need to impress not just viewers but the makers of the show who can help control the narrative is never more starkly represented through the character of Andrew.

Initially, he's quite bland, but nice enough, and stands up for the right thing. When the producers cut off water to force the seemingly happy group into challenges, it's Andrew who suffers the most. The ruthless undertones of all the other contestants sees them through, but poor Andrew endures severe dehydration.

The producers intervene as he's near death and bring him back to a fit enough position to be able to re-enter the house where he shares a friendly existence with Lily, building his monument to the show - an ugly statue made from all the goods they'd earned as a group over the course of the season.

In the end, all the commodities they earn are worthless, an ugly reminder of all the horrible things they had to do to get them. And Andrew remains disillusioned, forever in awe of the god-like production team and how they will save him in dire straits. Until he's banished, that is.

Rawle shines a harsh light on the realities of being famous in 2025 as countless TikTokers contort their bodies in every which way for some likes, follows and subscribers. But don't worry - the brand deals are worth it. Or are they?

Order The Compound by Aisling Rawle on Amazon now.

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